27 February 2015

Minority communities in Iraq have been targeted by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) in a systematic strategy to remove them permanently from large areas of Iraq, says a group of human rights organizations in a report launched in Brussels today.

The report provides critical information on the legal basis for war crimes prosecutions and follows a hearing on religious minorities in the European Parliament. Read more...

MRG blog

20 January 2015

Last month, in honour of Human Rights Day on the 8th of December, the London law firm Leigh Day hosted an event entitled "'Land Grabs,' Human Rights, and the UK." Rebecca Marlin, MRG's legal Fellow, reports back.

"The event was well-attended and fostered a stimulating discussion of the very important issue of "land grabbing", a term used to describe the seizure of land belonging to or inhabited by indigenous people, farmers, and those living in informal urban settlements, by governments and non-state actors for commercial exploitation." Read more...

Other reports

18 February 2015

Escalating violence in Iraq is taking a devastating toll on women, according to a new report released today by the Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights and Minority Rights Group International.

'No Place to Turn: Violence against women in the Iraq conflict' documents the extensive use of violence against women in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion, with a particular focus on violations perpetrated during the upsurge in violence over the past two years. Whether driven by political, 'moral' or sectarian motives, attacks on women have become a tactic of war used by parties on both sides of the conflict. Read more...

Resources

Peoples under Threat is Minority Rights Group’s annual authoritative rankings table which highlights those countries around the world where the risk of mass killing is greatest. As an early warning tool, the index has been widely used by UN officials and other human rights and conflict prevention practitioners. For the first time it's now been made available as an online map. Read more...